New Exogenous Species: Kudzu Bugs

Great! Now America is infested
with kudzu bugs (globular stink bugs).
Initially found a few years back in 2009,
these bugs already have spread throughout
Georgia and into its surrounding states.
They feed voraciously on kudzu,
that fast-growing, nuisance vine
covering the southern states so widely.
Dining on kudzu is a good thing.
(Stand still in the south for a while
and kudzu will envelope you.)
Kudzu fields in places shrunk
thirty percent due to these bugs.

Natural enemies in America?
These little bugs have none,
and the bugs are running wild.
Sure, they find kudzu a tasty treat,
but our other legumes are also found
on their diet, such as the soybean crop.
Already Georgian soybean farmers
are finding these kudzu bugs
on their plants in great number,
eating away at the farmers’ profits.
This is a looming agricultural crisis.
Alarm! Alarm! Warning! Danger!

Just great! Another alien species –
like kudzu itself, the English sparrow,
pythons multiplying in the Everglades,
and numerous other plants and animals
introduced into America from foreign lands –
to overpopulate and do harm to crops
and displace our native species.
These foreign invaders, with no means
to control their spread, have changed
the face of America for evermore.
Add the kudzu bug to that unhappy list.